Goods and Services Tax (GST) +With India set to roll out theon the midnight of June 30, 2017, home buyers are confused about its effect on the real estate sector, especially on property prices. "It's a complex exercise to quantify the tax cost of projects because every project has different components as goods and different sourcing patterns," said KPMG Partner (Indirect Taxes) Priyajit Ghosh while speaking at a webinar orgainsed by Magicbricks on 'GST and Key Real Estate Issues'. There's also a lack of clarity on whether a unit will be taxed on its sale price or break-up price, such as preferential location charges, parking, sewage treatment plant or water treatment plant.5) Even if a project is 80 or 90 per cent complete, it will still attract GST. Any pending transaction on a project will attract GST.6) Water bill will attract GST at concessional rate while power bill will not attract any levy.7) To claim the input tax credit, a submission has to be made within 180 days.8) While cement will attract a levy of 28 per cent, steel, services and contract works will attract a tax of 18 per cent.9) Revision in prices or allotted area will attract GST. "In my opinion, prices of new properties post-GST will be marginally lower or remain the same," adds Ghosh.

Source: Times of India June 29, 2017 09:42 UTC